Gores energy policy

Gore’s Energy Policy - energy roadmap

Al Gore (born March 31, 1948) is an American environmental activist who served as the 45th Vice President of the United States from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. He is an author, businessperson, Nobel Laureate, and former journalist. Gore also starred in the 2006 documentary "An Inconvenient Truth", which won an Academy Award in 2007.

What are the basics of Gore’s Energy policy?

Al Gore gave a speech on July 17, 2008. In it he called for a “bold approach” to ending America’s dependence on carbon-based fuels:

1. The United States should produce 100% zero-carbon electricity in 10 years.

3. The “sharp cost reduction now beginning to take place in solar, wind, and geothermal power -- coupled with the recent dramatic price increases for oil and coal -- have radically changed the economics of energy.”

4. We need a revamped and advanced national electric grid capable of linking the areas where the sun shines and the wind blows to the cities in the east and the west that need electricity.

5. To “further increase and the value and efficiency of the Unified National Grid” we should help the large automakers switch to the manufacture of plug-in hybrid vehicles. An electric vehicle fleet would sharply reduce the cost of driving a car, reduce pollution, and increase the flexibility of our electric grid.

6. “We should speed up this transition (to renewable energy sources) by insisting that the price of carbon-based energy include the costs of the environmental damage it causes. I have long supported a sharp reduction in payroll taxes with the difference made up in CO2 taxes. We should tax what we burn, not what we earn. This is the single most important policy change we should make.”

7. The United States should rejoin the global community and lead efforts to secure an international treaty at Copenhagen in December 2009 that includes a cap on CO2 emissions.

“I’m asking you -- each of you -- to join and build this future. Please join the WE campaign. We need you. And we need you now. We’re committed to changing not just light bulbs, but laws.”